Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Addendum in page-six vein

The book recommendation I forgot to add before along with the rest of my New York infodump is a fabulous collection of photos, Made in the UK: The Music of Attitude, 1977-1983 by Janette Beckmann. The photos are gorgeous and haunting; a friend--a friend who is far more fashionable than I, needless to say--dragged me to the gallery show/book release party (party photos here, fortunately none of me) at the powerHouse Gallery on Charlton St. two blocks south of Houston. The show's only up till October 6, but it's well worth seeing, stop by for a look if you're in the neighborhood (and there are some pictures at the gallery link). Then we went to the launch party for the new Paris Review issue; a very nice party all round (more my speed than the last, and also marginally less hot--everyone was still sweating like crazy, though). The celebrity highlight was riding down in the elevator with Salman Rushdie and his lovely wife, who I believe is also writing books these days. They had perfected an excellent "we are wholly oblivious to you no doubt pleasant but unknown people because we don't want to make you feel awkward" manner, you would have thought they were completely alone in the room. As good a tactic as any, no doubt; must be odd to have everyone staring.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

I have published four novels and two books about eighteenth-century British literature; my latest book is "Reading Style: A Life in Sentences." I teach in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.